Casa Bonita

CASA BONITA!!

Chris was at 11 year old scout camp so Abby, Tori I went to Casa Bonita, where the food is semi-okay and the reason you go is for the entertainment. Abby was has been asking to go back for a while. Chris isn't a big fan so this was a perfect opportunity to go without dragging him along. I have a personal love for the place and am happy to take Abby and Tori once in a while. We got a great table really close to the stage, so Abby could watch the divers, which she thought was very interesting.

After we finished our lunch we wondered around for a while the girls thought this train was really cool! All in all it was a fun little afternoon trip.

One of those moments

Last week I started a new book called Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer and couldn't understand why I was having a hard time following the book. I have kept reading because sometimes you do need a couple of chapters to get into a book. Well I finally decided that I must be missing something so I went to her website to find out that there were 2 books ahead of where I was in the series. At this point I realized that I seem to repeat this theme of going in after the feature has started. Chris found it extra funny since I have gone into a movie more than once halfway through on accident.

Needless to say I have ordered the first book in the series and will start over again, this time I am sure it will make a lot more sense. I am looking forward to the read since I have heard so many good things about it.

More Cassie

Tonight when I got home everyone was out in the back hanging out. We decided to have FHE back there too, Abby was kinda helpful and Tori too. We enjoyed one of those great reasons we live in Colorado, the beautiful and wonderful night with the great weather.

I got a cute pictures of Abby and her dog.

After FHE, Abby and I took Cassie for a walk. At Abby's request we took an extra long walk. I think we wore Cassie out, because once we got back she layed down in her favorite spot and didn't get up all night.

We adopted Cassie

We went and met Cassie tonight. Abby and Tori loved her right away. When I asked who wanted to take her home I got 3 I do's so needless to say we adopted her and took her home with us that night. She was kinda stinky and dirty so I gave her a bath before I am posting any photo's.
The first night was rough, needless to say Chris and I were up cleaning up after her for almost an hour (at 2AM I wasn't so thankful that we adopted her), but she has been good after that. We did take her to the vet and were told that other than an ear infection she was good as gold. That was a great thing to hear.

Here she is hanging out in the back yard.

Here the girls are loving on her. They think she is great and she is really patient and calm with them too. She is getting into life around here and hope she enjoys us as much as we are enjoying her.

Dog...maybe

We got our first call this weekend to go meet one of our potential new dogs (well we are only getting one, but could meet more than that). She is a one year old pure bread golden from Missouri. I don't know much more about her yet. We are set to go meet her on Thursday night and will see how it goes...so check back later in the week.

Fun in the sun

Today we went as a family to the zoo. I don't think we have done that in about a year. The girls had a blast and so did Mom and Dad. We of course had to ride the carousel and the train. Abby thinks that the carousel is the most fun thing ever, Tori however still doesn't. This picture was taken before it started to move, she wasn't near as happy once it started to move.

Abby on the other hand was laughing, and giving me high fives the whole time.

Home again

I convinced Ryan and Aubree to start our journey home at 4AM, that would be 3AM local time. I actually got up at 3AM so I could shower and pack. We did start out about 4AM and did really good until about 10AM when he found ourselves in a major down pour. We made it home with no major events and I was sure glad to sleep in my own bed too.

Chris and the girls had a blast while I was away. They went to the children's museum, out to Old McDonald (as Abby calls it), out for dinner one night, to the park, the grocery store and even did some garage sale shopping. I have to say I was really impressed and how they all got along and did just fine without Mom (whew).

So now here we are back to the routine. The trip was great and I had lots of fun with the family. I hope one day Tyler and Brianna decide to move here, that would be wonderful. We shall see.

Today we split up as we headed to Tyler's house in Illinois. Some of us took a drive to Pella, a cute little town in Iowa, which has the most beautiful tulip festival, which of course we missed. However, what we really came for was the Jaarsma Bakery. It is more than worth the 2 hours of extra driving to get some yummy treats from this wonderful Danish bakery.

The place was packed the whole time we were there. They have some many good things to choose from, but I picked up a couple of my favorites. First the letters, they have a yummy almond paste in the middle and are wrapped in a buttery, flaky, dough on the outside.
The second is the almond butter cake. This thing was really heavy, and it is also to die for. I did but it up and freeze it (yes my love of the deep freeze) so we could enjoy it later.
Just in case you are wondering, you can order these items and have them shipped directly to you house. I checked it and the cost wasn't that expensive either. I would have to recommend both of these items as well as anything else you can get your hands on. However a word to the wise if you don't like almonds or almond flavor, you probably won't like their pastries.

After the adventure here, we did go to Tyler's house, it is so cute and shaped like a barn. It was really fun to go look at all the work he had done to both the outside and the inside. I would love a green yard like that and especially since they don't ever water. Well I guess with all the rain they get they don't need to.
We had his graduation party that night. Great job Tyler we are all very proud of you and now you are the master (electrician)!!

One more picture. The little house you see in the back is actually a garage. This house is about 80 years old and they didn't attach garages like they do today, so it was an after thought. We played, eat and had a grand old time while we were there.

Tornado's and Graduation

Last night after I posted we watched for more tornado's as we went to bed. About midnight there was a funnel coming right for us, so we were afraid that we would have to take cover. On the TV they were telling people in neighboring towns to TAKE COVER NOW!! Do not wait, go now. Call your family and friends in that area and tell them in case they don't know.

That was a little scary and we didn't get to bed until about 1AM after all the warnings had expired and the funnel cloud was moving away from us.

The next morning after we finally got moving we went to the Science Museum of Des Moines. They had tons of cool things to see and do. This was the marsh lands where Ellie and Aubree watched a big turtle.



Here Josh and Grandpa were building a water funnel so that they could build up energy. Josh didn't know that the goal was to get the water going faster, not to stop it all up.
That afternoon we did some major swimming and then headed off to Tyler's Graduation. Here is the apprenticeship graduation. Tyler has been doing this for 4 years and now is a mater election, good luck!!

The proud parents.


All the siblings.


The whole family.

The Cheathum grandkids that make the trip.

Here is Tyler and Brianna.

Iowa here we come

Today was a fun filled day! We started the day off early and did our own amazing race. We took second place out of three teams so not so bad. We had nothing eventful. Aubree and Ryan did a nice hydroplaning a spin and off the road at 55 MPH. No one was hurt and the nothing happened to the car. They were really lucky they didn't hit anything, and for that we are all thankful.

Once we got here we all headed off to the Machine Shed.

We had a good meal and then visited the gift shop. I got a couple of things for the girls. I got wood blocks with farm animals and some of the animals you thread the string through.

Here is the whole family at dinner.

Here are Josh, Ellie, Jon and Jakob on the pig outside.

Here are all of the sisters, me, Aubree, Elisa and Theresa.

One final picture of the two pregnant sisters (no I am not one of them) can you guess who is due first??
When we left it started to rain, the kind of rain that comes down in sheets and by the time we made it to our hotel the tornado sirens were going off. We stood in the lobby and send Ryan to park the car. When he got to the lobby he was soaking wet and both Aubree and I said "oh we should have given you our rain jackets (both in our hands) the the umbrella's that we had with us too". That presented a good laugh for all of us. Poor Ryan!! After the sirens stopped going off we headed to our room for the night. Hopefully no more sirens tonight.

Off to Iowa

Well I am off to Iowa tomorrow for Tyler's (my youngest brothers) graduations. I am leaving the whole family here and doing a road trip. My sisters car (I found out yesterday) has no air conditioning and she is about 6 months pregnant...so wish me luck I will try to post from the road!

A quick picture of the girls before I leave as they are so cute while sleeping!!

When you can't beat them...out smart them!

I have been working with Abby for years to get her to go to bed on her own and have used this as a forum to complain and have received many a good idea (some I tried and some I did not). So when I heard of a new idea I thought this will never work, but what is the worst that could happen???
Starting last week I told Abby that bed time was going to be different starting tonight. At bedtime we would go in read stories and go through the whole routine and then she could decide when she was ready to go to bed. Here is the catch...she had to get up at the normal time the next day and couldn't be grumpy if she decided to stay up later. Another catch was that I wasn't going to sit outside her room anymore while she fell asleep.
Day number one, after we were done with our routine, she turned on her music, read some books, sang and about 15 minutes later asked me to come tuck her in. She had already turned off her light and was in bed. I didn't hear another peep.
Day two same as day one, but about 10 minutes of playing.
Fast forward to tonight when she actually got right into bed and asked me to tuck her in and turn off her light.
WHAT THE HECK????
I guess giving her the choice mad all the difference, hopefully I don't jink myself for tomorrow...